transcripts or to join us to see more, please go to our website for podcasts. >> a collection of interviews with some of the nation's top stories tellers. war, the beginning of the you are afraid of holding the gun. when we went to the first battle and we thought and i shot somebody, killed somebody, it does something to you. it is very difficult in the beginning. after time went on, it became easy. it became normalized. in the context of war, this is what happens. you normalize the situation so you can actually live through it. of manyel beah, one

unique voices. c-span, sundays at 8:00 now available at your favorite bookseller. >> this week in the british house of commons, prime minister david cameron took questions on russia's intervention in ukraine and the death of british soldiers in afghanistan. prime minister's questions this week is 40 minutes. >> order. questions to the prime minister. >> number one, mr. speaker. thank you, mr. speaker. i am sure the whole house will wish to join me in paying tribute to captain thomas clark , actingrmy air corps warrant officer class two

spencer faulk there of army air corps, corporal james walters of the army air corps, and a reservist who also worked as a research assistant. these tragic deaths remind us of the continued commitment and sacrifice of our armed forces. i know that our deepest sympathies are with their families at this very difficult time. i am sure the house will also want to join me in paying who wasto ann maguire stabbed to death inside her leads classroom on monday. she was a much loved teacher who worked at the school for over 40 years. she cared so much about her pupils, she would come in on her day off to help prepare them for exams. our thoughts are with her family, friends and the entire school community who have been left devastated by this shocking tragedy. a criminal investigation is underway and everything that can

be done to get to the bottom of what happened at the school will be done. this morning i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. i shall have further such meetings later today. >> i very much associate myself with the prime minister's tribute to the servicemen who lost their lives in afghanistan. anntwo m maguire -- maguire. can i ask him about something different? last week the institute of fiscal studies revealed that the government's decision to triple tuition fees would cost taxpayers more than the system replaced. is this disastrous policy a symbol of the long-term economic plan? what is enabled is another expansion of higher education. 40 of the forecasts from the -- from the party opposite, those forecasts were wrong.

that people from low income backgrounds wouldn't apply, those forecasts were wrong. we put in place a system for tuition fees that means we can expand our universities and go on winning and the global race. >> mr. roger williams. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i would like to thank the prime minister and the whole house for paying tribute to the five men who recently died in afghanistan. tribute toar i pay oliver thomas who worked for me in westminster. he was an outstanding young man who was held in such high regard by everyone who knew him. the loss weighs heavily on his parents and family and his friends who grew up with him. i am sure the prime minister would want to join me in praising all our reservists who face all the risks that our armed forces experience and

sometimes pay the ultimate price. >> my honorable friend is right to pay tribute to oliver thomas. it is a reminder of the sacrifices that we have born in afghanistan. this looks as if it was an accident but we will get to the bottom of what happened. he is right to mention how our reservists serve alongside regular colleagues and take all the risks. in afghanistan they have proved again and again that they are people of huge quality, ability and courage. ourhe go forward and expand reserves, i hope that everyone in our country, particularly businesses, will do everything they can to make sure that reservists are welcome in their businesses and supported in the vital work they do for our country. >> ed miliband. >> mr. speaker, i want to join the prime minister in paying tribute to captain thomas clark , spencermory air corps

faulkner of army air corps, james walters of army air corps and oliver thomas of the intelligence court who were tragically killed. these deaths are a tragic and poignant reminder of the sacrifices made by our armed forces including reservists. all of our thoughts go to the friends of those who knew those we lost including the honorable member and we share his loss. our deepest sympathies go to the families of those killed. i would like to drive the prime minister -- join the prime minister in honoringann maguire. this was an appalling tragedy. it is clear from the testimony of those who have spoken out that she was an inspiration to those she taught and all our thoughts are with her family,

friends and teachers and pupils in the schools. yesterday, for the first time, we got to know the names of the investors who were given preferential access to royal mail shares. how were these lucky few chosen? what we are talking about is an exercise in privatizing royal mail which has been a success for our country. a business that lost one billion pounds under labor has now paid money back to the taxpayer, is making profits, and the people we are praising are the 140,000 employees of royal mail who are now shareholders in the business they work for. >> no answer to the question. the royal mail share price is currently 50% above the level it was sold at. congratulate the taxpayer for losing one billion

pounds. these chosen few investors were given on average 18 times more shares than other bidders on the basis that they would provide a stable long-term shareholder base. in the words of the business secretary, not be speculators. can the prime minister tell us what assurances does investors gave us for the long term? >> first of all, he says that they were given shares. they paid for shares. second, he raises this issue that there was some sort of agreement. there was no agreement. he should be recognizing that a business that lost money, that he tried to privatize but failed, is now in the private sector making money, succeeding for our country. its employees are now shareholders.

isn't it interesting that with the growth in our economy, the fall in unemployment, the reduction in the deficit, he is reduced to complaining about a successful privatization? >> no, mr. speaker. i am raising an issue about a ripoff of the taxpayer. -- theson this matters reason this matters -- >> order. the orchestrated by writing is very predictable but incredibly tedious. people can calm down. take a tablet if necessary. >> the sale was grossly undervalued. nowes sold for 1.7 billion, worth 2.7 billion. who cashed in? 12 of the 16 so-called long-term investors made a killing worth

hundreds of millions of pounds within weeks. representative of the bankers who sold the shares said there was an understanding with those investors. he said there was an understanding, that is what it says on the record, about their long-term commitment to royal mail. why were they allowed to make a fast buck? >> we are getting lectures on taxpayer value from the people who sold our nation's gold. he talks about ripping off the taxpayer when it was he that left an 11% budget deficit after the biggest banking bailout in british history. these are exactly the arguments the michael foot made about privatization of the national freight corporation. they are the same arguments neil nock made about british

telecom. it eases the backbenchers. it excites the trade union but it is utterly meaningless. is he recommitting to re-nationalizing the post office? no. playing to the gallery. speaker, he should listen to members of his own side. the member from northampton, what did he say yesterday? this privatization has let people down. the interests of the taxpayer were not taken into account. he called it unethical and immoral. about the postal speaker, so this is very interesting. there were no conditions on the hedge funds but there were conditions on other groups like

the postal workers. can he explain why postal workers were told they couldn't sell their shares for three years that hedge funds were told they could cash in on day one? >> the post office workers were given their shares. it is right that they were given their shares. let's celebrate the popular capitalism. i believe in empowering workers. we have 140,000 workers who got those shares. in terms of risk to the taxpayer, -- >> order, there is far too much noise in the chamber. [rabble] i cannot believe they taught you to behave like that. speaker, you are right

that there is a lot of history in this shouting. in the past, with all these privatizations, we had the nnocks, the the ki prescott's. it is the same families with the same message. it is literally the same old labor. -- he asked about taxpayer value. this is what the national audit office found. reducedation has taxpayer risk to support the universal postal service. this is a good deal for taxpayers because this business was losing a billion. it is now making money, paying taxes, gaining in value, good for our country but bad for labor.

office is actually making a profit when they privatized it. what have we discovered today, one rule for the postal workers and another rule for the hedge funds. mr. speaker, who runs these hedge funds? they have been very coy. none other than the chancellor's best man runs one of them. if youit, it is one rule deliver the chancellor's best man speech and another if you deliver the chancellor's post? shows, he can't talk about the deficit because it is falling. he can't talk about the economy because it is growing. he can't talk about jobs because there are 1.5 million more people in work. he is painting himself into the red corner by only talking about issues that are actually successes for the government but appeal to the trade unions, the left-wingers behind him and the

people who want to play the politics of envy. that is what is happening. nothing to say about the long-term economic plan that shows britain is on the rise and labor is on the slide. what we know is there is a cost-of-living crisis in this country. there is a think cost-of-living crisis. why not? because they stand up for the wrong people. the more we know about this privatization, the bigger the fiasco it is. a national asset sold at a knockdown price. a sweetheart deal for the city and the government totally bungled the sale. everything about this privatization stinks. >> six questions and not a mention of gdp. not a mention of what happened while we were are away. not a mention of the deficit getting better. we know he has got a new advisor from america.

he has mr. axelrod. this is what he is being advised to say. that me share it with the house. he says, there is a better future ahead of us but we must not go backward to the policies that put us in this mess in the first place. i don't know what they are paying him. >> order. [shouting] question,e to that the prime minister has finished and he can take it from me that he is finished. >> mr. speaker, from the cyber attack in estonia to the invasion of georgia to recent events in crimea, we have seen a

clear pattern of behavior from the kremlin. defense exports from the eu to russia have amounted to about 700 million euros in the last three years not counting the 1.2 billion order for french warships, isn't it about time these were targeted through eu sanctions? >> i think my honorable friend is right on this issue. set of set out a clear sanctions as a result of russia's behavior. we have taken steps in terms of putting asset freezes and travel bans on named individuals. we have taken diplomatic and other steps and set out stage three sanctions that we think if furtheraken incursions are set out. we believe that restrictions on arms sales should be part of that. >> mr. speaker, the prime minister promised by the end of

this parliament, a third of this cabinet would be women. we know that the former culture secretary had to go but we now have only three out of 22. does he agree with the new culture secretary that this is because government appointments should always be made on merit? >> what i said was that i wanted to see a third of my front bench ministers being women at the end of a conservative government. we have made some important progress in terms of the numbers of people on the front bench. with respect to my coalition partner, the liberal democrats need to do a bit more to pull their weight on this issue. i hope we make further progress. >> reverting to the subject of royal mail, as the leader of the

stockbroking firm which brought british gas to the market and is the author of the phrase "ask s id," may i tell the prime minister that the questions of the way the royal mail launch was handled by the party opposite shows their total ignorance of city market. [shouting] arefact is that when you trying to make an ms sale, you have to take infinite troubles defined people who are to underwrite it. they are not able to prophesies what stock markets are going to

be like a week ahead. you have a prudent way in which this is handled. >> order! people shouldn't gesticulate at the right honorable gentleman. fails, thosesue institutions responsible for its launch our room and. house makesr of the an important point, when you are privatizing state-owned industry, if you sell them for less than the price set out, it is written off as a failure. if you set it for anything more than the price, you are accused of undervaluing the business. that is what labor said with respect to british airways,

british telecom, british aerospace. they opposed every single move to build a strong, competitive ride at sector in our country. that continues today. mr. earl would like to be a policeman but he is working part-time and can afford the tax he needs to pay. it toould like to give him if they had it. may i ask the prime minister if my constituent is capable of passing the academic, fitness and testing requirements of the police, why should his bank balance stop him? when did becoming a police officer become an aspiration for the few? the lady has asked questions about what she called the bobby tax. it is not a tax. it is not a barrier to recruitment. recruitment is taking place in the metropolitan police. we are seeing people being recruited.

join theho want to metropolitan police are able to get assistance with this qualification that they now require. >> last week, we marked the nativity, 400 years and 50. saturday, they processed through town billing rosemary. here in your apartments, last night young scholars staged a sheen -- a scene from shakespeare's works. mr. speaker, could this right honorable man lend his help to make our national poet's birth a national day? could he too disclosed before the house what shakespeare means to him? friendank my honorable for that beautifully and brilliantly crafted question about the anniversary of shakespeare's birth.

it is a moment for celebration. shakespeare's works are gaining a wider understanding and distribution. that't attempt the quotes he has brought out in his question. i would say to any politician if v, if thatnry doesn't inspire you, i don't know what does. >> when will he introduce stipulations for standard packaging on tobacco products? >> i can't prejudge but we want to take action on this front and we will. engineering, food and drink manufacturing are all blooming. for example, camira fabrics are producing the uphold free -- the outpost refer boris's route master buses which is creating jobs and apprenticeships.

will the prime minister praised them and other local firms that have agreed to attend my first ever jobs fair on friday, the 20th of june? >> let me pay tribute for my honorable friend holding these job fairs. a number of members of parliament have taken this approach and seen real benefits in local areas as you see businesses coming forward. seen since the recess is a series of figures in our economy. point --nning over 3 over 3%. inflation now at a five-year low. this is confidence at its highest level since the early 1970's. there is a lot more work to do. the long-term economic plan is not complete but it is well on its way. >> before he was elected, the prime minister said that if they'd let me, he would put a wind turbine on 10 downing

street. last week he announced that his party wants to end support for onshore wind even though that 70% of the public now supported. what changed his mind? >> we have seen a massive increase in onshore wind in our country. pproaching 10%e a pro- of our electricity demand through onshore wind. is it right to continue to overrule local planners and local people after you have built out that onshore wind? i don't believe it is. make thatsto will clear for local communities to see. weeks, overst few 160 million pounds of private investment has been announced. we have had 3000 new apprentices.

unemployment is almost 20% down. we are coming through tremendously successfully from the economic downturn. does the prime minister agree that the u.k. follows? >> i am glad to hear that eastbourne is leading the way. 1.6 million apprentices have started under this government. our target is for 2 million. we want to see a particular expansion. >> i am sure the prime minister has read last week's excellent report by the all party group on ticket abuse which set out how consumers are getting a raw deal. whose side iss, the prime minister on? or the culture secretary millions of ordinary fans who

are sick of being ripped off? >> i haven't seen the report. i will have a look at it and discuss it with my right honorable friend who i welcome to the cabinet. i noticed labor seemed to criticize his appointment. i think you will do an excellent job for our country and i am very happy to study that reports. unemployeder of inseekers has fallen by 25% the last year. there is obviously so much more to do. i am hosting a jobs fair this friday. in the light of the chancellor's welcome commitment to full employment, what else are they doing to make that ambitious aspiration a reality? >> what we have seen already is 1.7 million new jobs created.

we have seen an increase in full-time work, which is very welcome because people want to work at more hours than they are currently able to. in terms of driving further employment growth, the clear message to businesses is you have 2000 pounds off your national insurance bill which can help people take on new employees. there is the cut to business rates. from next year, anyone under the age of 21 won't have to pay any national insurance contributions. we want to see more people in work and to raise even further that level of aspiration. >> mr. speaker, nuclear power is a very important component of the u.k. energy max because it produces large amounts of electricity with very little co2. this government calls itself the greenest government ever has ceded control of our nuclear energy policy. what will his government do to include -- to ensure that

nuclear power stations such as c are brought s online on time? >> i am sure he has a constituency interest in this because the northwest has very important energy assets. the last labour government was in power for 13 years. it never built a nuclear power station nor made progress. we have got hinkley going ahead. we have exciting developments. i believe there is the opportunity of more to come. that is what we are doing, making sure we have nuclear power providing a high-quality baseload power which is carbon free. >> the peterborough affect is back. business confidence is returning. on employment is falling. new more jobs are coming to my constituency. much of that relies on infrastructure spending.

does my friend share my regret that labor's grade on company retirement funds, the brainchild of the shadow chancellor estimated to 118 billion pounds loss, not only wrecked private pensions but hobbled private sector infrastructure investment for generations? >> i am delighted to hear about the peterborough affect. that is what we see across the country. 29is fascinating that minutes into prime minister's questions, not a single labor member of parliament has unemployment, growth or our economic plan. minister makeime representations in relation to the cases of princesses sahar jawaher who have been

refused access to food for more than 40 days? does he agree that human rights and women's rights should be our priorities in saudi arabia? >> i read the report and i share her concern. in terms of our relations with all countries, we do give a proper priority to human rights and the rule of law. could i gently tell the prime minister that liberal democrat women not only pull their weight but are perfectly ready and willing to punch above their weight? i recently hosted the premiere of the honor diaries, a hard-hitting film about the honor culture and what can be

done to girls and women in its name. i know that issues of sgm and marriage are important to my right honorable friend. would he please consider reviewing the film and showing it at the film summit on those issues that he is hosting in july? >> can i thank her for the work that she does on women in enterprise with the business department? the point i was making is that i know all parties in this house want to see greater gender equality in terms of representation and all parties have made progress. my party has made progress but there is more to do. ,n her concerns about sgm preventing sexual violence in conflict, we are taking huge steps in raising the profile of those issues. leadershipte to the shown by the foreign secretary.

as a country that has met its target in terms of 0.7% gdp going in aid, we are able to push this item right up the agenda which we will do this year. >> yesterday, ukrainians in scotland wrote to alex salmond expressing discussed and astonishment at the first ministers statement that he admired president putin. support prime minister the statement of the scottish ukrainian community and labor in condemning those statements whichsupport a regime represses its own minority groups and silences its critics? >> i agree wholeheartedly with the honorable lady. what alex him and said was a major error of judgment. all of us in this house should be supporting the ukrainian desire to be a sovereign independent country and have the

respect of the international community and party leaders for that ambition. >> this morning, i met with joe's jumpstart, a charity campaigning for different relators in schools. for defibrillators in schools. >> that sounds like an excellent campaign. a country taken a lot of steps forward in terms of making sure this sort of equipment is more readily available. if you find people who suffered a heart attack quickly you can save lives in those golden minutes. it sounds like an excellent idea. months, thelast 12 use of food banks in knowsley

has increased by 93% and social landlords report that rat appears to have gone up by 8.4%. will the prime minister accept that the government's policies of driving up debt and poverty in places like this? >> clearly the best route out of poverty is work. we should welcome the fact there are 1.5 million more people in work. of course he is right that food bank usage has gone up, not least because food banks are now properly advertised and promoted, not least by job center plus, it also by local authorities. if he wants to deal in facts, the oecd has shown that the proportion of people struggling to buy food has fallen since before labor's great recession. i know that members opposite want to make this argument about any quality in britain. the statistics don't back them up. inequality has fallen.

there are fewer people in relative poverty. the picture they want to paint because they can't paint a picture of an economy that isn't they arethe picture trying to paint is wholly false. with the service sector, the manufacturing sector and the construction sector all growing at 3% less, would the prime minister agree that the economy is well on the road to recovery and rebalancing? grateful for my honorable friend's question. recent figures did show that manufacturing was one of the faster growing sectors of our economy. i think what the chancellor said is that we are not resting on our laurels. there is more work to address the fundamental long-term weaknesses of the british economy. we need to manufacture more, export more, save more and invest more. --ike the party all is it

the party opposite, we have policies that promote all those things. >> i will allow some injury time because there has been so much noise. >> has the prime minister seen the survey which shows that two thirds of local councils are either dimming or cutting streetlights at night? does he think that women are feeling safe in their local communities at night under his government? >> i have, like all honorable members who take part in election campaigns, have been lobbied on this issue. i think it is an issue for local determination. i want to see good street lighting but we should also listen to the arguments from police and others. >> i congratulate my friend and the chancellor on the long-term economic prosperity. albans, like st.

barely a house is under 250,000 pounds. can i make a plea that we consider stamp duty thresholds that limit help to young people to get on the housing ladder? >> the weapon we have used to help young people who don't have rich parents but who can afford mortgage payments is help to buy. it helps them get together that deposit. labour party is shouting about this. they should be welcoming this scheme. it is expanding aspiration and growth in our country. that is what they should be promoting. >> order. i have to inform the house that i have received the following letter from the clerk of the house. dear mr. speaker, i write to inform you that i have indicated to her majesty the queen that i wish to surrender my patent as clerk of the house at the end of august this year. i shall then have served the over 11 are years,

and for-- parliaments the last decade at the table. i have been fortunate indeed to have the best job in the service of any parliament -- indeed one of the best jobs in the world. i have been lucky enough to have been involved in most of the innovations in the procedure and business of the house over the last 10 years. whatever the vicissitudes of parliamentary life and whatever brickbats may be thrown at it, i can truly say that the house now eera more effective scrutiny of the executive than i have ever known it. as chief executive of the house service of some 2000 staff, i have had the great privilege of leading a remarkable group of talented people, deeply committed to the house, and

whatever their role here, all rightly proud of being stewards of the central institution in our democracy. that commitment and pride has been a feature of working life here for as long as i can remember. in recent years it has been coupled with increasing levels of professionalism and teamwork and a focus on delivering the services required by the house and its members as well as reaching out through education and information to the world beyond westminster. had thegrateful to have support and friendship of members on all sides of the house, especially of the occupants of the chair, as well as the happy camaraderie, supporting council of my colleagues at all levels.

i have spent much of my career seeking to make the house and its work and the work of its members better understood by those whom it serves. the citizens of the united kingdom. i believe that with understanding comes a valuing and with a valuing comes ownership. our citizens should feel pride in the ownership of the parliament. the house of commons across the centuries has never expected to be popular and indeed it should not court popularity. but the work it does in calling governments to account and its role as a crucible of ideas and challenge, deserves to be better known, better understood, and so properly valued. so too does the work of individual members. not only working for the interests of their constituents often as the last resort

of the homeless and hopeless, the people whom society has let down. this is a worthy calling and should be properly acknowledged and appreciated. this house is the precious center of our parliamentary democracy. with all my heart, i wish it well. yours sincerely, robert rogers. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> you have been watching prime minister's questions from the

british house of commons. question time airs live on c-span 2 every wednesday at 7:00 a.m. eastern and again on sunday night on c-span. much anytime at c-span.org where you can find video of past prime minister's questions and other british public affairs programs. the head of the u.s. air force pacific command speaks tomorrow at the center for strategic and international studies about u.s. military strategy in the asia-pacific region. you can see his remarks live on c-span at 11:15 a.m. eastern. in the afternoon, a discussion on russia's intervention in ukraine. that is also live from the center for strategic and international studies. you can see it at 1:30 eastern monday afternoon here on c-span.

the house foreign affairs committee on africa held a hearing on the central african republic where thousands have died amid ethnic violence. france's leading peacekeeping efforts and the state department officials told the subcommittee with.s. is "stretched thin other humanitarian crises in africa." this is just over 2.5 hours. >> order and thank you for being here. our hearing addresses an extremely critical topic this morning. the worsening crisis in the central african republic's where lives hang in the balance and the window for action is narrowing every day. this is not the first hearing we have had on these republics. it follows up a hearing we held last november. many of us have been in ongoing and numerous meetings with bishops, humanitarian ngos,

diplomats and interested parties. our november hearing, robert jackson who will again testify today said that the car was in a pre-genocide stage. , the situation appears to have gotten worse. we will hear again today from secretary jackson who will update us on the situation on the ground and also on a change in policy that i believe reflects a course of action that we have recommended that the administration take less november. namely, that peacekeepers be introduced into the country as the existing african force has been serving far too many vested interests. hopefully such an intervention will not come too late. we are witnessing a country in rapid disintegration. apparently dissenting from a pre-genocide stage to one characterized by a word almost too painful to aul